29 December 2013

The hay in the paddock in front of my place has been ready for cutting and baling for several weeks now. Unfortunately, with the weather being so unsettled, this might be the view for a while yet — not that anyone could complain about a view like this.

26 December 2013

At the top of the No. 1 Line track a few days ago, these big flies were patrolling a small clear area. When one alighted on a leaf of horopito (pepperwood; Pseudowintera colorata), I switched to the macro lens and managed a series of photographs. Although these are slightly bigger than a blowfly, the high magnification meant focusing was critical, and only a small number of the photographs were satisfactory.

An impressive proboscis, isn't it? Fortunately, these feed on nectar and perhaps pollen, so calling them horseflies, as other species of the family are known elsewhere in the world, isn't appropriate here. Guess we're lucky. I've been bitten by horseflies in Mongolia, and they HURT.

21 December 2013

The hay paddocks next door were cut and baled today.This morning the wind rippled through the long grass; by evening only the rough areas remained, the rest razed, pressed into the enormous round bales that have increasingly replaced the traditional lozenges that one person could pick up and throw onto the back of a truck; the giant bales carted away by tractors larger than my kitchen. A couple of kahu cruised the evening sky, perhaps wondering what had so suddenly happened to the land they'd hunted over all year. Farming as an industrial operation; efficient only if you don't consider the cost of making and running the machinery. A necessary evil; the evil of necessity. Someone has to feed the world.

12 December 2013

On a grey, mild evening, a red-hot poker seems like a small statement of joy.

[Update: I see the problem I had with Pohanginapete not updating in link lists on other blogs now affects this blog, too. I'll try to work out how to fix it, but in the meantime, you might have to check here regularly instead of waiting for updates on another blog.]

09 December 2013

White-tailed spiders are common in New Zealand houses and sheds, where their most common prey is the grey house spider (Badumna longinqua). They have an undeserved reputation for bites that can supposedly cause large, necrotic ulcers, but sound evidence for this is lacking. The bite has been documented as being painful, though, so I treat them with respect when shifting them outside. If you want to know more about these spiders, including a clear discussion of what's known about their bite, I recommend the Landcare Research page on white-tailed spiders.

On the basis of the known distribution of the two species in New Zealand (Australia has 61), I assume this is Lampona murina. It's certainly a male: the mark that looks like a slight depression on the abdomen where it joins the cephalothorax (the front part of the body) is not present in females. I managed two photographs of this one after moving it from the kitchen to the verandah — then he was gone.

07 December 2013

These tiny spiders, commonly called dewdrop spiders (for an obvious reason), are just 3–4 mm long and live in the webs of other spiders, usually Eriophora pustulosa, where they steal prey from the host spider's web. This one was on its way to retrieve a sciarid (dark-winged fungus gnat), which might have been too small to alert the host spider to its presence.

05 December 2013

An overcast evening softened the light in a way that seemed to suit the foxgloves. So far, I haven't tired of photographing them.

[New post up on Pohanginapete][Update: Apparently the feed isn't updating, so those friends good enough to list Pohanginapete in the links on their blogs will still think the last post was about three months ago. It wasn't—it was yesterday. I've tried republishing the post but the problem persists, and I'm apparently not alone. Nice one, Blogger/Google—yet another item to add to the long list of stuff-ups. Maybe that's why the post is still sitting on zero pageviews :^( ]

03 December 2013

While the foxgloves still flower, the bumblebees make the most of the opportunity.

Four species of bumblebee were introduced to New Zealand, but one is found only in the South Island. Of the other three, one, Bombus terrestris, has a short tongue, meaning it's less effective at pollinating some types of flower. The bee in this photograph is one of the two long-tongued bumble bees (probably B. ruderatus — please correct me if I'm wrong).

01 December 2013

Spring weather in this region usually means an overabundance of wild winds. Yesterday was no exception, and when I wandered out the back with the camera in the late evening, I made sure I was well rugged up. The sun had long gone, but the afterglow hadn't yet faded and the colours in the sky suffused the whole world.